Friday, January 27, 2017

This diy comes from www.shanty-2-chic.com . An inventive idea to have around for the holidays and every day to put pinecones, nuts, faux fruit or any other decorative item you can think of. Have fun!

Hey Guys!! I spent my weekend with the fam in Lubbock and made it home just in time to share my next project with you. A few weeks ago I saw a picture of an antique cake stand in a magazine and was instantly inspired to copy… although this shanty is far from antique:) Here’s what I did…

I started by purchasing my supplies. I found three great hat boxes at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. I paid less than $12 for all three… woohoo!!

I also bought 2 unfinished wood candlesticks and a bag of 6 little candlesticks. This picture shows 3… you only need 2.

I also had my Gorilla Glue Epoxy handy… Hot glue will not cut it on this project! I had to pull out my big guns…

For this project I only used the tops of the hat boxes. My first step was to glue my candlesticks to the tops. I added glue to each candlestick and started building…

My little candlesticks became the feet for the bottom stand…

Still building…

I used another little candlestick for the top and glued an unfinished wood finial to it. You can find these at Lowe’s on the trim aisle.

Now to add it to the top…

My next step was to get this baby one color! My color of choice… Rustoleum American Accents Heirloom White spray paint. I took it out in the garage and gave it a couple of coats.

When my paint dried I was wanting this to appear antique, so I distressed the candlesticks using my 3M block sander…

I then used a Shanty Sisters favorite… Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze over the entire stand. You just paint it on and wipe it off with a cloth. You can leave as much on as you like to get the finish you like best.

Almost done…

I do love natural lighting for my photos so much better, but when you finish your project at 9:00pm that typically is not an option. Sorry!

My final step was to dress it up. I fought the urge to cover it in Christmas goodies! But, I did “Winterize” it a bit. I picked up some pine cones from a house down the street and added just a few walnuts on there as well. The best part about this… You won’t have to hide this project in a closet 10 months out of the year! It can be decorated for every season! What do you think??

This diy comes from www.makethebestofthings.blogspot.com . I used to buy a special crackling medium that would cost quite a few bucks, but know anyone can get the same look for next to nothing. Good luck and enjoy!

Crackle finish with Elmer's Glue

Thanks to Dollar Store Crafts for featuring this post!

For years whenever I wanted a cool crackled effect on my painted projects I used the very expensive (to me) crackle medium and even bought some paints that were supposed to crack on their own. Because of the cost I did not do anything large and I was sparing in what I did do. Well, thanks to this cheap alternative, I can go a bit crazy and experiment because I found out how to get the crackle effect with Elmer's Glue! It's alot less expensive than any size bottle of crackle medium and just before school it's downright CHEAP.

I've been doing this for awhile but if you go to the Elmer's faq site, you can see the instructions towards the bottom of the page. Four sentences of instructions. Four sentences! I had more than four sentences worth of questions when I first did this!

On their page Elmer's used wood glue. I used Elmer's school glue or multi purpose glue for ALL of my projects and have always had great results. Even the Dollar Store no name glue works in a pinch. I have never had a "failure to crackle" with these glues.

So this tutorial, as requested, will have lots of pictures and step by steps so you can see what to expect. If you have used crackle medium you know the basics, they are the same, but you will use Elmer's glue. I used multi purpose but I see online that others have used the school glue and even generic school glues. For this project I used Elmer's.

I painted this piece of foam board with flat black acrylic. This is my base coat.

Here is the piece of painted foam board and a piece of painted muslin I have smeared with a generous amount of glue. I used alot so it would show up in the pictures. Let the glue dry til it is tacky, just a few minutes, then paint your contrasting base coat on top. Do NOT wait for the glue to dry all the way or the top coat will not crack. This is one point that you desire tackiness, lol! Let's call it sticky. Alrighty then. For these pics I did NOT thin the top coat of paint.

Try to use long strokes in one direction when painting your top coat. Do not go back and forth. Use long, steady strokes to cover your entire base coat with your top coat. Here is the foam board within a few minutes of painting the top coat of white paint. You can see the cracks forming pretty quickly, it is cool to watch!

Here is the top coat on the painted muslin.

And here is the painted muslin with the crackle effect. Since the muslin has a bit of give the cracks are smaller than the cracks on the wood board.

Here are two more pieces of painted muslin. The piece on the left is painted using turquoise and black. The black on the top left piece has been thinned slightly. The turquoise on the bottom left has not been thinned so it's cracks are not as delicate as the black. The big piece of fabric on the right has been undercoated with burnt umber and chocolate brown, then top coated with THINNED glue and THINNED white paint. The cracks are very small and delicate and hard to see in the pic. They are what I prefer for a doll face or something with alot of fine detail.

And here are some close ups of my sample boards. I tried to give you lots of pics so you can see what to expect when trying this technique.

Foam board with black base coat and white top coat. Glue is not thinned and either is the white paint. Board is about 2" x 4".

The wood boards in the following pics are about 1.5" tall x 5" wide.

Base coated brown on the left and black on the right. Glue is not thinned. Top coat of black on the left is thinned alot, brown top coat on right is thinned just a little.

Black base on the left, turquoise/teal base coat on the right. Glue is not thinned. Turquoise/teal top coat is not thinned. Black top coat on right is thinned alot, very watery.

I used gold Patio Paint for this board and it reacts differently to the glue. Perhaps because Patio Paint stretches a bit? The base coat on the left is P P gold with a watery black top coat. The base coat on the right is black with a Patio Paint top coat. It cracked, but not much. The glue was not thinned for this board.

I hope I've given you enough options that you can see what to expect with this technique. I would suggest experimenting a little til you find the combination that you like the best before using it on a final project. But have fun, it's easy to do and it's really really CHEAP!

For the people of Punjab, the festival of Lohri holds a great significance, as it marks the harvesting season and the end of the winter season. The main event is the making of a huge bonfire which is symbolic of the homage to the Sun God for bringing in warmth. Celebrated on January 13th every year. Lohri festivities are associated with the harvesting of the Rabi crops. There is a special significance attached to the celebration of Lohri as this day the sun enters the rashi (zodiac) of Makara (Capricorn), this is considered auspicious as it signifies a fresh start.

Lohri has special significance for the agriculturists because, it marks the beginning of a new financial year, on this day they settle the division of the products of the land between themselves and the tillers. Lohri assumes greater significance, if there has been a happy evet in the family, such as the birth of a child or a marriage in the past year. The family then plays host to relatives and friends and "making merry" is the order of the day. Most people participate in dancing the bhangra ( a folk dance) to the accompaniment of the dholak.

The festival of Lohri is linked to the atmospheric physical changes. Lohri celebrations generate a lot of bonhomie as people sit around the bonfire, talking, laughing, exchanging pleasantries, praying for prosperity, even as they make offerings of til (gingelly), moongphali (peanuts) and chirwa (beaten rice) to the burning embers. All these accounts and references point to the significance of saluting the Sun. The Sun is a symbol of plenty it gives us all we need. Fire sanctifies their endeavors for a good life on the one hand and destroys evil spirits on the other.

The First Lohri

On the first Lohri of the recently wedded bride or a new born child, people give offerings of dry fruits, revri (a kind of candy made of sugar and sesame seeds), roasted peanuts, Sesame Ladoo and other foods to the fire, as well as sharing them with their family and friends gathered around the fire. They perform the "Bhangra" dance, in groups around the fire. The dancing and singing continues well into the night. The Bhangra dance has rhythmic movements of the feet, shoulder and body, with outstretched hands and a lot of clapping by women partners. Food eaten, is generally of vegetarian and traditionally, no alcohol is supposed to be consumed.

The First Lohri of a Bride

The first Lohri of a bride is considered very important. It is celebrated with increased fervor and on a larger scale. The family of the newly wedded wife and husband gather around the fire wearing their best, often new clothes, decorated with beautiful Punjabi embroidery in gold and silk threads with mirror work. The newly married woman wears new bangles, applies henna or "mehndi" on their hands and puts a colorful bindi, a decorative spot on their foreheads. The husband also wears new clothes and colorful turbans. The new clothes and jewelery is given to her by her new in-laws. She wears bangles almost up to her elbows. The mother-in-law presents heavy garments and jewelry to he new bride. The bride remains in her in-law's house where a grand feast is arranged and all the sons and daughters, with their spouses and children and all of their close friends and neighbors are invited. In the early evening, when all have arrived, the new bride is dressed in her best salwar suit or phaphra and is made to sit, along with her husband, in a central place where the father and mother in law perform the presentation of clothes and jewelry. The close relatives and friends also join in and present clothes or cash to the new bride.

The First Lohri for a Newborn

The first Lohri of a new born is also a special occasion, in which all friends and family join to celebrate. it is preformed in the later part of the evening. Invitations can be sent for this function, depending on how the family wants to celebrate this occasion. The event is observed at the home of the child's parents, in the presence of close relatives, friends and well wishers. All the guests usually bring gifts for the baby and the new mother. The child's grandparent's give gifts to the child's paternal relatives also.
On the first Lohri of a new born baby, the mother is attired in heavy clothes and is wearing a lot of jewelery with mehndi on her hands and feet and sits with the baby in her lap. The family does the presentations. The mother and father-in-law usually gives a large quantity of presents in the form of clothes and cash and others in the immediate family do so also. The maternal grandparents also send gifts of clothes, sweets, rayveri, peanuts, popcorn's and fruits.

The Kaapse Klopse is a minstrel festival that takes place annually on January 2nd, in Cape Town, South Africa. Up to 13,000 minstrels, many in blackface, take to the streets garbed in bright colors, either carrying colorful umbrellas or playing an array of musical instruments. The minstrels are grouped in klopse ("clubs" in Cape Dutch, but more accurately translated as troupes in English). Participants are typically from Afrikaans-speaking working class "colored" families who have preserved the custom since the mid 19th century.
Although it is called the Coon Carnival by Capetonians, local authorities have renamed the festival the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival as foreign tourist find the term "coon" derogatory.

History

One story goes that the carnival was inspired by a group of African-American minstrels who docked in Cape Town in the late 1800's and entertained the sailors with their spontaneous musical performances. The popular song Hier kom die Alabama (Here comes the Alabama) refers to the ship that is believed to have brought them. Another story goes that the traveling minstrels were actually white and painted their face black...hence the painted faces seen today.

Inspiration

The source of the parade and the festival are the horrors of slavery, as was blackface minstrels in the United States. As Denis-Constant Martin's book Coon Carnival informs us, several forms given to physical torture, including the burning of effigies on Guy Fawkes day, evolved into the present day commemoration. Some would remind us, however, that American style slavery has more influence in America than Southern Africa. Guy Fawkes day is a British custom, and is not connected as such with American slavery. Even American blackface minstrels are more connected with celebrations of the people that came out of slavery than with the institution itself.

Troupe Organisation

The majority of the troupes (approximately 169) are represented by the KaapseKarnaval ("Cape Carnival") Association. In addition, two breakaway organisations (the Kaapse Karnaval Association and the Mitchell's Plain Youth Development Minstrel Board) represent a minority of troupes.

The Carnival Today

The festival begins on New Year's Day and continues into January. Traditionally, it has been a site for grievances against white supremacy. Festivities include street parades with singing and dancing, costume competitions and marches through the streets. While many troupes now are supported by corporate sponsors, many refuse and remain sticklers for tradition. The 2005 carnival was nearly cancelled due to an alleged lack of funding, while the 2006 carnival was officially called off for the same reason. However, the troupe organisations subsequently decided to go ahead with the parade despite continued unhappiness over funding, and the festivities, were opened by Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rascool on January 2nd, 2006.

ALWAYS SOMETHING GREAT!!

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A LITTLE BIO FOR YOU

I am passionate about Halloween and Christmas. Many nights spent in the lab making and creating new props and decorations. I have been married for 25 years and have teenage twins (a boy and girl). I like 80's rock, all kinds of sports,thriller and action movies. I also moonlight as a pastry chef/baker.